Better Call Saul season two: Recap season one and Jimmy McGill's antics ahead of new episodes

The second season of Better Call Saul starts on AMC on 16 February and if you haven't got time to binge-watch season one on Netflix by the time it airs, we've got you covered. In honour of the new episodes starting, we recapped all of the previous ones . Here's what went down in the first season of the well-loved Breaking Bad spin-off...

Episode 1 - Uno

Jumping back to 2002, years before the events in Breaking Bad, James McGill (Saul Goodman's birth name) is a struggling public defence attorney living and working out of a cramped storage room in the back of a Vietnamese nail salon while caring for his semi-reclusive brother, Chuck, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

On his brother's behalf, "Jimmy" passionately confronts Chuck's law firm partner, Howard Hamlin, of Hamlin Hamlin & McGill (HHM), demanding HHM cash out his brother's $17m (£11.7m) share in the firm. Later, Jimmy encourages Craig and Betsy Kettleman, the county treasurer accused of embezzling $1.6m, to hire him; however, the Kettlemans hire HHM instead.

Frustrated, Jimmy sets up a skateboarding accident scam with con artist twins Lars and Cal to secure the Kettlemans as clients. However, they accidentally target the wrong car and Jimmy ends up a hostage at gunpoint by gangster Tuco Salamanca.

Episode 2 - Mijo

Tuco drags Jimmy to where the skateboarding twins are being held, while Jimmy explains the twins were part of his scam operation, which infuriates Tuco and leads him to tying Jimmy up.

He demands to know who Jimmy is and why he is coming after him, causing a frantic Jimmy to lie about being an FBI agent. Tuco's subordinate Nacho doesn't believe him, and Jimmy confirms he is actually a lawyer, so his captors release him. He talks Tuco out of killing the twins, suggesting he break their legs instead.

Later, Nacho visits Jimmy at his office and reveals his plan to steal the money the Kettlemans embezzled and offers Jimmy a 10% finder's fee. Jimmy declines to participate, telling Nacho he is a lawyer not a criminal. Surprised, Nacho leaves his number with Jimmy, encouraging him to call when he decides he's in.

Episode 3 - Nacho

During a flashback, Jimmy, who faces multiple charges and the prospect of being branded a sex offender, is visited by Chuck in jail. Chuck promises Jimmy that he will extend his legal help, in exchange for a solid promise that Jimmy quit "everything he is involved with".

Back in 2002, Jimmy is still working on the Kettleman case and anonymously warns them they are at risk of getting robbed. As Jimmy returns to the Kettleman house, he's informed they have been kidnapped.

Nacho is arrested for the crime after being spotted by the Kettleman's neighbours; however he accuses Jimmy of tipping off the Kettlemans, and threatens to kill Jimmy unless he proves Nacho's innocence. Jimmy suggests the Kettlemans must have kidnapped themselves and strives to prove it. The police do not believe Jimmy's theory but former cop/parking attendant Mike Ehrmantraut does. Later, following Mike's advice, Jimmy locates the Kettlemans in a tent near their home, along with the embezzled money.

Episode 4 - Hero

In a flashback, Jimmy and his friend con a bar patron using a fake Rolex. Back in 2002, Jimmy once again offers his legal services to the Kettlemans, however they reject his offer and counter a $30k bribe. Jimmy successfully frees Nacho but he deduces Jimmy tipped off the Kettlemans and warns him about "consequences".

Jimmy uses the bribe money to purchase clothing and a billboard that exactly imitates HHM's logo. Hamlin obtains a cease and desist order and forces Jimmy to take the billboard down, however, Jimmy uses this as a way to try to make Hamlin look bad through college media, and in the meantime stages the rescue of a billboard worker who pretends to have fallen off the billboard.

The next day, Jimmy's actions make the news, much to Hamlin's annoyance. Jimmy then makes his daily drop-off at Chuck's house, keeping the local paper out of his supplies. With great distress, Chuck runs outside to take the neighbour's newspaper and reads about Jimmy's act.

Episode 5 - Alpine Shepherd Boy

After Chuck's neighbour reports him for stealing her newspaper, he is arrested and taken to hospital. A doctor then tries to have Jimmy commit Chuck to a mental institution but Jimmy manages to convince her that he is fully capable of containing Chuck in his own home. However, the doctor proves to Jimmy that Chuck's "disease" is entirely psychological.

Jimmy's new found fame seems to attract him some odd clients, but he eventually comes across an elderly lady in need of a will which prompts Jimmy's lawyer friend Kim to propose that Jimmy specialise in elder law. Jimmy takes her advice and begins promoting himself at a nursing home. Meanwhile, Mike is visited at home by several police officers from Philadelphia.

Episode 6 - Five - O

In a flashback, Mike arrives to Albuquerque on a train and is met by his daughter-in-law, Stacey. Their conversation reveals that Mike's son, Matty, who was also a cop, was recently murdered.

In 2002, Mike is taken to the police station and demands Jimmy as his lawyer. He asks Jimmy to spill coffee on one of the detectives so that Mike can steal his notebook; Jimmy refuses at first but ends up doing it. Reading through the notebook, Mike realises Stacey had called the detectives. He confronts her and reveals Matty was the only "clean" cop in the precinct.

In another flashback, Mike breaks into a police vehicle parked outside a bar before entering, then after drinking heavily, leaves the bar. Two detectives pick him up in their car, where Mike explains he knows they killed Matty because they were scared of what he might do. They plan to murder him in an empty parking lot using his own gun but Mike, having feigned his drunken state and hidden a second gun in the back seat, kills them both.

Episode 7 - Bingo

Mike and Jimmy are called down to the station and are accused of stealing the notebook. Jimmy returns it and assures him they found it in the parking lot outside. Mike and Jimmy are allowed to go and Mike tells Jimmy to go home. The next day, Jimmy takes Kim to his new office and offers her a partnership but she refuses.

Back at HHM, Kim offers the Kettlemans a deal that would send Craig to jail for 16 months instead of 30 years but Betsy refuses and fires Kim. Meanwhile Jimmy is hosting a bingo game at a nursing home and is contacted by the Kettlemans.

They meet and the Kettlemans demand he represent him and insist they want no jail time. Jimmy turns them down and strongly encourages them to go back to Kim. They inform him that in order for them to take the deal, they would need all the money, including the bribe Jimmy took.

Later that night, Jimmy hires Mike to steal the Kettleman's million dollars from their home and returns the remaining money that he took from the bribe. The next day, Jimmy visits the Kettlemans and tells them he took their money, and forces them to take Kim's deal.

Episode 8 - RICO

In a flashback, Jimmy is working in the mailroom at HHM when he finds out he passed his bar exams. Later, they hold a small mailroom party to celebrate but Hamlin tells Jimmy that HHM refuses to hire him as an attorney.

In 2002, Hamlin holds a press conference to announce Kettleman's plea deal, as Jimmy visits clients at a senior care home called Sandpiper Crossing. Jimmy returns to Chuck's house and points out fraud by the home. Chuck tells Jimmy he needs more information; Jimmy returns to Sandpiper, but is thrown out.

Later that night, Jimmy searches Sandpiper's bins. He brings bags of shredded documents to Chuck's house, but makes no progress and falls asleep. However, Chuck manages to put some of the documents together, which proves Sandpiper's guilt. Jimmy sets up a meeting with Sandpiper's lawyers at Chuck's house, and Chuck demands $20m from them. Chuck explains he sees a way to win, which pleases his brother.

Episode 9 - Pimento

Jimmy goes to court to argue a restraining order pending from Sandpiper and ultimately wins. Returning to Chuck's house, Jimmy finds boxes of paperwork and Chuck convinces Jimmy to bring the case to HHM because of its large scale. The next day, Mike, a mercenary named Sobchak and another man wait for a job. The client arrives and Mike manages to subdue Sobchak and scare off the other man, accepting the job on his own.

Meanwhile, the McGill brothers present their case to Hamlin, but Hamlin informs Jimmy that he wants the case, but not him, but Jimmy refuses to back down. Kim confronts Hamlin on his decision but Hamlin reveals it has been Chuck who has been putting Hamlin off working with Jimmy all this time.

On the job, Mike and his client wait for Nacho and a new gang of thugs to show up and buy the pills the client is selling. After the deal is concluded, Mike explains to the client, who insists he is not a "bad man", that he is now a criminal, and that morality doesn't enter into it.

The next day, Jimmy goes to Chuck's house and confronts him about everything, demanding to know why his brother is sabotaging him. Chuck reveals his opinion of Jimmy as not being worthy to be called a real lawyer and that he has not changed since his ways since being a conman. Jimmy tells Chuck he's on his own.

Episode 10 - Marco

In a flashback to Cicero, Illinois, Jimmy says goodbye to his friend and con artist partner Marco, telling him he is moving to Albuquerque. In 2002, after having a breakdown while calling bingo at the retirement home, Jimmy then returns to Cicero, where he catches up with Marco. Over the next week, they run several successful scams together, however one morning, Jimmy explains to Marco that he is now an attorney and must return to Albuquerque.

Marco insists on one last scam but suffers a heart attack during the con. A grieving Jimmy, now wearing Marco's pinky ring, receives a phone call from Kim; a Santa Fe firm, Davis & Mane, is assisting with the class action suit and considering Jimmy for partner. Jimmy returns to Albuquerque, but backs out of the Davis & Mane meeting.